5 ESCAPE ROOM ROLES THAT ENSURE SUCCESS
Every escape room provides challenges requiring various skills to successfully escape from the room. Teamwork and communication are essential skills in solving the puzzles within the allotted time. It’s interesting to see how people respond and interact in these situations and what escape room roles emerge with the clock ticking. It’s even more interesting to see the dynamics when the team has individuals who do not know each other!
A team member might completely emulate one role or might exhibit parts of multiple roles. It’s important that the team collectively emulates these roles. One cannot overemphasize the need for teamwork and communication. Without further ado, here are five escape room roles that will provide success.
THE ANALYST
An analyst assesses and evaluates data to summarize the data and draw meaningful conclusions that support decision-making. Likewise, for an escape room, the analyst takes data from clues and converts it into a form that solves a puzzle and/or provides the team a direction to follow. Data in an escape room can take many forms, but often involves math, logic problems or deciphering symbols or text.
THE DETECTIVE
A detective is an investigator that collects and processes information and evidence to solve crimes. Likewise, the escape room detective finds clues (or uses clues found by others) and processes the information to solve puzzles. The puzzles solved by the detective are less analytical and are more subjective or abstract than those solved by the analyst. A riddle would be a simple example of a puzzle solved by the detective, with a more complex example being a who-did-it type of scenario.
THE EXPLORER
An explorer is a person who investigates unknown regions. Likewise, the escape room explorer combs the entire room, inspecting and reading everything for clues. The explorer isn’t interested in solving puzzles, but charting new territory.
THE LOGISTICIAN
A logistician is someone who analyzes and coordinates an organization’s supply chain which typically involves products. The escape room logistician organizes, coordinates, and tracks the clues and puzzles to closure. For example, there may be combination and key locks found by the explorer(s), and the logistician coordinates with the analyst(s) and/or detective(s) for applying puzzle solutions to opening the locks. This role may seem less glamorous than the others, but it’s arguably the most important role!
THE LEADER
A leader is a person who leads or commands a group of individuals and provides a hierarchical structure. Likewise, the escape room leader leads the team by picking a direction to follow, solving disputes, and supporting the team. Another role of the leader is to mentor new escape room participants on performing the other four roles.
Note that performing the role of leadership consumes time that can be used to perform the other roles. The size of the team, team experience, and how the team interacts may help determine if an individual should be a team leader or whether this role can be distributed among the team members.
Do you agree that these are the roles that will ensure success? Are we missing any? Please comment below and let us know your thoughts!